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When did Trek "jump the shark?"

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From the time I was ten years old or so in 1990 any incarnation of Trek was appointment TV for me. TNG, DS9, VOY, didn't matter. But then shortly after DS9 ended, and I think it was during Voyager's 6th season I no longer made a point to watch each episode as they aired. Eventually I saw most of them, and I watched Enterprise on and off, but the franchise never grabbed hold of me like it did between '90 and '99 I guess.

Personally I think it is because I matured and my tastes matured, and Star Trek did not mature. It kept retelling the same stories in the same ways. This is not to say that I did not enjoy much of Enterprise or ST09, but neither was really fresh and new creatively speaking.
 
. . . I think it was during Voyager's 6th season I no longer made a point to watch each episode as they aired.

That happened with me in ENT, 1st season: I just didn't watch it. Never decided not to. No shark jump ridiculously bad moment, though (for me anyway). Just dullsville, man. The acting seemed pretty flat. Sorta passionless.
 
I still enjoyed Enterprise but I believe it was the one show that truly jumped the shark (or started to go downhill) for me.

Enterprise Jump the Shark Reasons:

1. Bad cast
2. Bad acting.
3. Vulcan sex suit
4. Disregard of previous Trek canon.
5. No sense of family.
6. Lack of character development.
7. Beginning long story arc not explained properly.
8. Annoying song for the beginning credits.
9. It got canceled for a reason.
10. Can't tell if this is a prequel series or not (Which is what this series is supposed to be).


Also, besides First Contact a bit, the Star Trek films were basically a downward spiral since the start of Generations. However, I do believe Star Trek Xl picked up the Trek franchise in the box office again, though. Now all we need is a new TV series in about 5-6 years and we are back on track... or is that Trek?
 
:lol: I love "humped the shark".

I think any time there was a wrestler crossover, that series kinda humped the shark.
 
Too many people on this board are so obsessed with minute details and continuity glitches and reused footage and all the other bullshit that it's just easier for me to sit back, enjoy the thing for what it's worth and leave it at that.
True enough. But for some of us what it's worth isn't damned much.


So what's the point of bitching [not you specifically, fans in general] about it endlessly?
 
VOY: Threshold

Agreed. Once you reach Warp 10 breaking the transwarp barrier, there is no coming back whole. Literally. Shark or Lizard. Doesn't matter.:lol:

After that stinkfest I couldn't take VOY seriously. You can't give someone that and expect them to move on next week pretending that you hadn't squeezed out pandora herself.
 
Even though I liked Voyager...Trek jumped right there.

It jumped even further with Enterprise, and with NuTrek it is no longer even trying to jump.

It's just chum floating in the shark tank.
 
When fourth season Enterprise decided to appease the fans who wanted the cool Vulcans by turning Vulcan logic into a religion that was reformed by finding the original scriptures (in Archer's brain:rolleyes:)....Yup, that's making everything ridiculous in an effort to be supercool.

You're implying that Enterprise was any better before that . . .

Honestly, Coto significantly improved the show, but was too little too late. That's because of the fuckups before Coto came on.

Coto turned Trek into a stinking corpse. And, no, the movie didn't revive it. The emotional heart of the the movie should have been how Kirk and Spock became friends. Because old Spock told young Spock to, left the movie heartless. Since it was already brainless, it is a stillbirth. There aren't signs of life, those are just FX.

:rolleyes:

Star Trek XI had more heart in it than all of Ins, Nem, Voy, and Ent combined.
 
I have seen everything that Trek has ever done. (except for the cartoons) This isn't to say that I enjoyed everything I saw.

TOS never really jumped the shark, but the third season was not very good. Spock and the Space Hippies for example.

TNG's first season was not very good. Especially the time they went to the planet where the aliens looked like black people complete with M.C. Hammer parachute pants. Then there were the evil Ferengi with the electro whips. Then the show got progressively better.

DS9 has always been good. There have been a small number of episodes I disliked (the augment retards who visited Bashir/ the ep. where Keiko is possessed by an evil force. Dreck.)

Voyager had a few good episodes but mostly dreck. I love Kate Mulgrew. I just find the woman sexy and I love her voice. I also liked Tim Russ as Tuvok. The rest of it, so-so. If Voyager had better actors, it could of been as good as DS9. As it was, it was a much weaker franchise of the original two. I also think that not seeing the same familiar aliens was a minus here. No Klingons or Romulans here.

I will say that the Viddians were the scariest aliens and the scariest Trek I saw was on Voyager when a Viddian killed someone and wore his face as a mask.

I never liked Enterprise and thought it was mostly garbage. Jolene Blalock made the show. Really. Someone should ask the actor who played Tripp if he got wood during that season when she took her clothes off in front of him. I would have.

Movies (in brief)

Loved the Original Movie. It's slow. The only bad thing were the ugly uniforms.

II, III and IV were basically a trilogy. III was the weakest but Christopher Lloyd is always a plus.

V sucked. Really sucked. If I was a celebrity at the William Shatner roast, I would tell him that I want two hours of my life back

VI was very good.

I never liked the TNG films. Any of them. Generations was awful. Then the writers kill Kirk, in a stupid fashion, getting a bridge dropped on him by some really lameass bad guy.

First Contact was OK, but I do not care for films where there is a constant chase/ life and death struggle bit.

Inserrection was basically a two hour TV episode. The only good part of that film was when the villian (F Murray Abraham) yells NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The last TNG movie was the "jump the shark" moment. Everyone hated the outcome of this film. Patrick Stewart stated that this will be his last Star Trek film. Data gets killed.
 
Even though I liked Voyager...Trek jumped right there.

It jumped even further with Enterprise, and with NuTrek it is no longer even trying to jump.

It's just chum floating in the shark tank.

That sums it up perfectly.

As I said previously, Star Trek has had its low moments before. Many of TOS episodes were utterly ridiculous including at least a third of season 3 but I never had any trouble just ignoring those episodes. Same with TNG & DS9. With Voyager, I was forced to ignore critical episodes like the finale because they were so messed up. With Enterprise, I disregarded an entire series! Finally, the ultimate turd that is Star Trek XI is the end for me because apparently everything yet to come will based on that thing that bears no resemblance to the Star Trek universe.

Now I know how Warped9 feels. I was a lot luckier because I got three series that I love and one that while deeply flawed, I still enjoy a lot. No more though except in fan fiction. :(
 
I don't believe in the "Jump the Shark" concept. A few creative missteps don't doom a series forever. You just course-correct.

Like with the new movie, which is the best thing to happen to the franchise in years. IMHO.

As to its long-term effect, that remains to be seen. None of us can predict if the franchise has been given new life or "irrevocably damaged." We're only one movie into the new cycle. It's way too early to pass judgment on the future of the series.

But, hey, if THE FINAL FRONTIER didn't kill the franchise, nothing can! :)
:bolian: Hear, hear! If the Trek franchise can survive TFF, it can survive anything.

I also agree about the new film. It's way too early to predict if it will have any long term effect on the future of the series. It was successful, yes, but the true test will be the twelfth film. If that one bombs, we could be in trouble. If its a roaring success, then Trek might well be with us again for a long time!
 
VOY: Threshold

Agreed. Once you reach Warp 10 breaking the transwarp barrier, there is no coming back whole. Literally. Shark or Lizard. Doesn't matter.:lol:

After that stinkfest I couldn't take VOY seriously. You can't give someone that and expect them to move on next week pretending that you hadn't squeezed out pandora herself.

:lol: Oh yeah. That is one dire episode. Even Brannon Braga himself admitted that's a terrible episode! What the hell were they thinking? How did the actors keep a straight face when filming that turd?

Why is it that most eps revolving around a new discovery about warp technology are some of the worst in Trek history?

New Ground- TNG- New warp field test experiments. Worf can't look after his son. Snoozefest

Force Of Nature- Sorry, you can't go past warp five anymore. Tremendously stupid.

Threshold- Going warp ten turns you into a lizard creature. A shocker of the highest order.
 
:bolian: Hear, hear! If the Trek franchise can survive TFF, it can survive anything.

What if all Trek which came after TFF had to feature Sybok as a main character? Would it matter how much money the films made? Would you want to watch them?

All new Star Trek will be aboard a Budweiser-powered starship built on a planetary surface in a universe with no Vulcan or Romulus and commanded by a captain who was promoted to that rank directly from cadet.

Not exactly a good foundation for success.
 
I am in agreement with Greg Cox on this one. Trek has had its peaks and valleys, but it never got to the point where it could never recover. Part of this is due to a very flexible premise. If I had to pick a worst period in Trek, it would be the first two seasons of Enterprise, but even those had some stellar episodes.
 
I think it slowly started to begin with 2 shows existing at once (DS9 and TNG). Then it was DS9 and Voyager. I think Star Trek truly jumped the shark when we had DS9, Voyager and the TNG movies all going on at once. So, basically, over-saturation. It might be blasphemous, but I think there can be such a thing as too much Trek.
Word
 
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